I. JEONGGUK

By the time the first bell rings, Jeongguk is running as fast as he could towards his classroom, barely paying any mind to the scattering crowd around him. His tie is loosened around his neck, more than enough buttons undone, his hair jet black in its usual unruly mane. Taehyung would call it his 'I just got out of bed and I can't be bothered to prepare for you idiots' look, but Jeongguk would call it his 'the alarm was too quiet and I only got up ten minutes before the bell' deluxe special. Either way, he's going to be late, and while normally he wouldn't give a flying , it's the first class after summer vacation and wow, his new homeroom teacher is the scariest teacher in the whole school, Ms. Qian.

The door to his new homeroom is closed, and if his ears aren't as damaged as they are he'd be able to hear the usual morning rush of students (particularly louder than usual, considering this is the first day after a long break) and, thank God, no teacher yet.

He opens the door and peers inside, his classmates stopping their chatter for a moment or two, necks creened to check whether it was the teacher or not. Upon seeing it's just Jeon Jeongguk, they resume their conversations and Jeongguk exhales a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. Luck is on his side. At least, for now.

"Oi, Jeongguk!"

His head snaps upon recognizing a familiar voice, and a grin forms on his lips upon seeing (one of) his best friends, Park Jimin, waving him over to an empty spot next to him. Jeongguk places his bag on the table and slumps on the chair, flashing his best friend a tired smile.

"I barely made it."

"Well, you did anyways. What a lucky bastard." That's Taehyung, Jeongguk's other best friend who was sitting in front of him with a casual smirk on his lips, eyes twinkling with mischief. Nothing new. "Dude, fix your shirt. You look like you ran here after having being chased by your dog." Taehyung's nose crinkles, and Jeongguk rolls his eyes, but fixed the buttons on his uniform anyways. "Better."

(He doesn't bother to tell Taehyung he doesn't have a dog, but whatever.)

The teacher steps inside the classroom a few minutes after Jeongguk did, and the class falls silent, their class president standing up to prepare the class. Guess summer break's really over, thinks Jeongguk with a wistful smile.

Their class president is someone wearing thick-rimmed prescription glasses and his uniform tucked in neatly, a straight-A kid named Kim Donghyuk. He appears to have grown taller over summer break, Jeongguk notes in disbelief, mostly because the kid was already tall and scrawny enough as it was.

"I'll get your attendance," says Ms. Qian after they'd finished their morning greetings, eyes scanning over the attendance list. Jeongguk closes his eyes, leaning back on his chair. It'd take a while for them to get to his name anyways, and even by then he could just raise his hand... with his eyes closed.

(He blames Taehyung for this - the idiot made him watch horror movies until 3AM and now he's running on less than five hours of sleep.)

"Jeon Jeongguk?"

Jeongguk lazily raises his hand, mouth stifling a yawn. The peace lasts around three seconds before Jimin nudges his side, causing the younger's eyes to snap open in annoyance.

"What the f—fffishsticks."

Ms. Qian is standing in front of his desk, arms crossed in the signature, classic pose authority figures tend to use whenever they're in the mood to be patronizing to their children. Jeongguk knows the pose far too well, having been victim to it once too many to his own parents (a dentist and a physician — how mundane) and attempts to look like he has the decency to look at least slightly guilty.

(He's really not, but it's better to fake it than get detention on the first day of school. He's emo but he's not that emo.)

"I do not tolerate laziness in my class, Mr. Jeon," the way Ms. Qian says it, all crisp and succinct, makes him gulp out of obligatory fear. See, Jeongguk's not usually scared of teachers, but there are just some teachers out there that one cannot fear. Ms. Qian is one of them, and her reputation precedes her.

"Sorry, ma'am," Jeongguk mutters, and Ms. Qian eyes him for a few more moments — holy her eyes are huge and it's so scary — before turning back, her heels clicking on the ceramic floor as she makes her way back to the front of the class. Jeongguk sighs, and ignores both Taehyung and Jimin's snickers. With friends like these, who needs friends?

For the remainder of the class, he attempts to keep his eyes open, ignoring the burn and the heaviness of his lids. In the end, he gives up and asks Taehyung for one of his washi tapes, using the green tape to keep his eyes opened. The rest of the class give him odd looks, but Jeongguk glares back at them (the sight must've been weird though, he notes, because he surely wouldn't be intimidated if someone using washi tapes to keep their eyes open was glaring at him) and Ms. Qian doesn't seem to mind as long as he doesn't doze off.

So, it's quite convenient.                                       

"I'm expecting the reports on my desk by Wednesday." Ms. Qian parts them with a back to school gift, meaning an assignment just after one meeting, and Jeongguk's dislike for the teacher further cements in his heart.

"Guys." Jeongguk turns to stare at Jimin, who looks as if he's already half-dead. "I'm already deceased and it hasn't even been half a day yet. Save me."

"At least you don't look like that." Taehyung throws a not-so-subtle glance at Jeongguk and his washi taped eyes, causing the younger to take off the tape, wincing at the sting. "That's not how you take the tape off, loser. It's just like taking off a band aid, take your time like you're doing now and it'll hurt more."

"I knew that." He didn't know that, but Taehyung doesn't need to know.

Jeongguk is just about to get his earphones out of his bag when Jimin starts to gush over cafeteria food out of all things, and he nearly faceplants to the desk.

"I've heard, like, they hired a new chef! And the food's going to be amazing."

"Cafeteria food is never going to be amazing, get outta here with that ."

Jimin glares at Jeongguk, but Jeongguk simply plugs his earphones into his phone, a thumb scrolling through his music library. Fall Out Boy seems tempting, but then again, he kind of wants to listen to the same song by Mayday Parade again...

"Yah, Jeongguk. Me and Jimin —"

"I think you meant Jimin and I."

"— Jimin and I, god damn it stop being such a smartass Jeongguk, are heading to the cafeteria to grab some food. Since you're being such a partypooper, we're not getting anything for you." Taehyung sticks out his tongue and Jeongguk raises a brow.

"Okay then." Taehyung sputters at the nonchalance of Jeongguk's answer, and Jimin drags him out of the room, sighing in exasperation as he does. Jeongguk simply turns up the volume, letting the music drown the noises of the outside world.

And, for a while, that works.

(At least, until some idiot manages to sit down loudly in front of him, clearing their throat as if they expect him to answer. Yes, he does answer.)

"What?"                                                                                                                           

Jeongguk attempts to throw a glare, but his glare falters when instead of a jock or anybody else he'd expected to bother him to be in the seat, it's instead Myoui Mina, one of the most popular second years in their school, known for being a natural beauty with a classy aura to boot. Myoui Mina is looking at him with a calm smile, and Jeongguk suddenly feels like he's thirteen again.

"Jeon Jeongguk, right?"

Holy , Myoui Mina knows his name.

"Depends on who's asking." It sounds a lot cooler in his head, Jeongguk decides, because when he says it, the sentence just makes him sound like a white extra reject from an action movie.

The short-haired girl's smile turns into one of amusement, and she sticks out her hand in greeting. "I'm Mina."

Holy , Myoui Mina is introducing herself to him, of all people.

"Jeon Jeongguk." Jeongguk shakes her hand, mentally praying his palms aren't as sweaty as he thinks. Mina retracts her hand with the same smile, and by now he's convinced she probably already thinks he's some sort of loser behind that smile.

"Nice to meet you, Jeongguk."

"It's nice to meet you too, uh, Mina."

Before the atmosphere gets more awkward than it already is, Mina pulls out her phone from her pocket, unlocking it using her thumbprint (he notes the wallpaper is some video game character and he's slightly taken aback because Myoui Mina is a gamer?) and showing him a picture of a slightly familiar batchmate. "That's Kim Hanbin. Do you know him?" Jeongguk nods. "He wants me to talk to you about starting a band with him. Would you be interested?"

The offer comes as a shock to Jeongguk, because why does this kid with the huge nose he barely talks to suddenly wants him to join a band? Jeongguk's reputation isn't exactly stellar, and he knows he comes across as either crass, rude, intimidating, or just a plain bundle of teen angst instead of a dapper young gentleman.

"But... why?"

Mina shakes her head slowly, chuckling softly. "I'm not sure why either — he hasn't told me. He wants to meet you, though. Do you know the second floor music room?"

Jeongguk thinks about it for a moment before nodding, remembering the location of the room. "Yeah. Now?"

Mina nods. "Unless you're busy, in which case I can tell him to wait longer."

A casual glance at the clock tells him he still has twenty minutes of break, so he nods, taking up the offer. "Sure. Are you supposed to go with me, or...?"

"Do you want me to?" Mina asks casually, but Jeongguk overreacts to it by blushing, causing the girl to stare at him oddly. "Did I say something wrong?"

Ah, it's nothing, just me being a regular teenage guy, you know is what Jeongguk wants to answer, but he just shakes his head instead. "No. I can go there by myself."

"Sounds good, then. I'll be out of your hair now, it was nice meeting you," Mina says, giving him a last bow before shuffling out of the room. Jeongguk stares at her retreating back for a moment, considering to call her back, but then decides he's gotten enough luck for today. Asking Myoui Mina of all people to accompany him would've been pushing his luck.

The walk to the music room is a short one, and Jeongguk doesn't pass by anything worth of mention as he strides. There are a few familiar faces, but nobody he actually knows, and such is the life of an introverted high school student.

He raps his knuckles on the music room's door once, then twice, and when he doesn't hear an answer, he opens the door anyway.

As expected, Kim Hanbin is there, sitting cross-legged on the carpeted floor. Jeongguk approaches him with wary steps, but Hanbin gives him what Hanbin must think is a friendly smile, before gesturing the spot in front of him.

(Hanbin's friendly smile looks more like a forced grimace, but Jeongguk understands the pain of faking a smile, so he keeps quiet.)

"What is this about a band?" Jeongguk goes straight to the point because he really can't handle small talk, but Hanbin looks prepared, pulling out some kind of flyer from his pocket. The paper is wrinkled and crumpled, but he can still make out the colours and words.

"You see," Hanbin begins, clapping his hands together dramatically, "I am a man of ideas. I'm not too bad at some instruments either, so I decided to put together a band to join that contest together. Winner gets record deal, it's pretty sweet."

Jeongguk sees why the contest would be tempting. Hell, he's slightly tempted as well, but he's never played bass for anyone but himself.

"First of all, I don't even know you. Why do you want me in your band?" Jeongguk questions, eyebrow arched questioningly. Perhaps if this Hanbin guy manages to give a decent answer he'll consider joining the band - just maybe, though.

"Talent speaks louder than connections." Hanbin seems to have a flair for the theatrics, Jeongguk thinks, as he speaks like someone in a saeguk. He patiently waits for Hanbin to elaborate, but Hanbin doesn't, so Jeongguk smiles awkwardly. "Look, dude, help me out here." And then the saeguk is gone, Hanbin breaking character, and he suddenly sounds like a regular teenage boy. "I'm a composer, and lyricist. I've got no idea what to do with all this... talent of mine, I can't just let it go to waste. If you look at the flyer, winner also gets a decent amount of money, so we can split it together, if that's what tempts you."

"I'm not tempted by money."

"Then what are you tempted by?"

"I don't know, actually." Hanbin seems to sweatdrop comically at Jeongguk's answer, but Jeongguk doesn't make an attempt to elaborate.

"How about doing it for the experience? High school years are the prime of your life, after all." If Hanbin is trying to go that route, Jeongguk thinks almost in amusement, then he's got some news for the guy.

"I already can't stand high school, do I really need to add more things on my plate?" Jeongguk fires back, and Hanbin bows his head, mumbling smoething about not thinking it'd be this hard. "How about this, then. I'll consider your proposition seriously if you let me listen to one of your compositions."

Hanbin brightens up at Jeongguk's statement and nods enthusiastically, already taking out his earphones and handing over the left part to Jeongguk, who wears it on his left ear because the lefts and rights of earphones are Very Important.

Two heartbeats later, a beat starts playing and Jeongguk's brows knit in concentration as he listens to Hanbin's music, head bobbing along to the beat, fingers drumming to the rhythm. The song is over too soon, and Jeongguk has to admit; he's impressed.

"You're much better than I thought."

Hanbin smiles widely, and Jeongguk can't help but restrain his urge to smile back. "I try. So, you'll consider my officer?"

The younger of the two mulls over Hanbin's words a little before his head nods, fingers digging inside his pockets. "I will. You can expect an answer for me soon. Who else are you thinking to recruit?"

"Actually, you're the only one I planned to recruit. I'm going to put up an announcement on the school's billboard later." Hanbin seems like he's got it all planned out, Jeongguk has to admit, and he's a little impressed by Hanbin's seemingly natural leadership. Also, a little flattery always goes a long way.

"Sounds cool. Well, I'll give you my answer soon." Jeongguk doesn't bother to wave Hanbin goodbye, turning on his heels to walk back towards his homeroom. He still has around ten minutes of break time, and for the remainder, he just wants to finish listening to music. He can't say Hanbin's offer isn't tempting though, because while he tries to focus on the things he wants to do during the rest of the break (and maybe think of sleeping strategies for whenever Ms. Qian is around), a small part of him keeps whispering Hanbin's offer in his head repeatedly, until Jeongguk wishes his brain had some kind of mute button to have it silent.

(Maybe this year will be different from the rest.)

Author's Note

idk what i'm doing i'm sorry? ? sweats. anyways, this is the first chapter and for the first few chapters i'll focus more on character introduction. i hope you guys like it so far, please please leave a comment to let me know if there's anything i need to fix, or if there's anything at all you like about the chapter, etc ect. ehehe.